Joe Rogan Breaks Silence on Jimmy Kimmel's Suspension After Backlash

Joe Rogan has finally spoken out on Jimmy Kimmel's suspension from ABC following pressure from the Donald Trump administration.

Kimmel's late-night show, one of the most-watched in the United States, was indefinitely suspended last week after pressure from Trump officials.

It followed comments Kimmel had made about the shooting of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, who was killed during an appearance at Utah Valley University on September 10 at the age of 31.

After the shooting, Kimmel said that Trump and his allies were "desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them" and also compared the US President's reaction to the influencer's death to "how a four-year-old mourns a goldfish".

In the wake of those comments, Brendan Carr - the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission - appeared to threaten ABC with regulatory action.

Disney, which owns ABC - the network that broadcasts Jimmy Kimmel Live!, subsequently suspended the show because it felt some of Kimmel's comments "were ill-timed and thus insensitive".

Jimmy Kimmel's show was suspended by Disney and ABC (Image: Getty)

That move caused major controversy and reignited the debate over free speech in the US under the Trump administration.

Following a backlash from leading Hollywood figures, fellow comedians, unions, Democrats and even some Republicans, Disney and ABC allowed Jimmy Kimmel Live! to return to air on Tuesday night.

In his comeback on live TV, Kimmel branded US government threats to silence comedians "anti American" in an emotional monologue in which he fought back tears.

What has Joe Rogan said about Jimmy Kimmel?

Rogan is one of the most influential podcasters in the world, with his 'Joe Rogan Experience' podcast boasting more than 20 million subscribers on YouTube.

The UFC commentator, who has himself featured Trump on his podcast, has made free speech a central part of his brand but failed to immediately address Kimmel's suspension to the surprise of many of his fans.

Rogan finally spoke out on Tuesday, attributing his initial silence to an elk-hunting trip in the mountains with limited internet service.

"The companies, if they're being pressured by the government — so if that’s real — and if people on the right are like, 'Yeah, go get 'em,' oh, my God, you're crazy," Rogan said on his podcast.

"You're crazy for supporting this. Because this will be used on you.

Rogan endorsed Trump for President (Image: Getty)

"You don't think that the [expletive] globalist lizard people who run the world are sitting here going: 'Great, what do we got — three years? We'll wait this out. We'll wait this out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, let them say the government should be involved in censoring people's speech.'"

Rogan endorsed Trump in the 2024 election, with the latter's appearance on the JRE podcast seen as a pivotal moment in his campaign to be elected President.

However, Rogan's relationship with Trump has become strained during his second term. The podcaster has been critical of the Trump administration's strict immigration policies while he also accused it of trying to "gaslight" the public on the Jeffrey Epstein case.

After being warned by Rogan to not become a "monster" with his aggressive immigration tactics , Trump replied: "Oh, I agree with that a hundred percent, yeah. We want to be careful. We are careful."